MADWD 62

Chapter 62

“What the…?”

The orc chieftain froze mid-step.

The soldiers following behind him also stopped, confusion spreading across their faces.

“What was that just now?”

The chieftain’s gaze followed the orc soldier who had been hurled far into the distance.

Moments ago, that soldier had been leading the charge. Suddenly, something whipped through the air and struck him, sending him flying.

“What hit him?”

It had happened too fast to see clearly, but it had looked like a thick, black whip.

The fallen orc was still twitching faintly, but judging from the pool of blood spreading around him, his injuries were severe.

“Who’s there?!”

The orcs raised their weapons and spun around, tense and wary.

But there was no sign of their enemies—no demons, no soldiers, no ambush in sight.

“Who attacked us?”

“Is it the enemy? Are they hiding?”

The atmosphere shifted instantly, tension thickening in the air.

Weapons in hand, the orc warriors searched their surroundings carefully, but the forest was utterly silent.

All they could see were enormous trees towering like pillars that seemed to hold up the sky.

The chieftain’s face twisted with frustration and suspicion.

Then, one of the orcs muttered nervously,

“C-Chief… did that tree… just move?”

“What?”

“I saw a branch! It moved really fast and whipped him like a weapon!”

“Don’t talk nonsense!” the chieftain barked. “How could a tree attack us?”

Raising his sword high, he shouted,

“Spread out! Find the ones hiding and cut their heads off!”

The orcs obeyed, scattering into the forest.

They searched every bush and shadow, ready to drag out whatever demons were ambushing them.

But once again, their advance came to an abrupt halt.

Whuuush! Whuuush!

The sound of heavy clubs swinging through the air echoed around them.

Thud! Crack!

Flesh met wood with sickening impact.

“Gyaaah!”

“Guuuhhh!”

Screams rang out as orcs were struck down one after another.

The chieftain’s eyes widened in horror.

The thing he had just dismissed as impossible was now happening right in front of him.

The trees were attacking them.

Branches moved with precision, whipping out like living whips, striking orcs squarely in the head and chest.

The blows were so strong and accurate that even those who tried to dodge were relentlessly pursued until they were knocked off their feet.

It was as if the trees themselves had a will of their own.

Crack!

“Gyaaaahhh!”

Another orc was smacked by a branch, sent flying high into the air before crashing down far away—always beyond the edge of this strange forest.

“These trees… are driving us out…”

Just then—

Rumble… Rumble…

“How dare you!”

A deep, thunderous voice rolled through the forest.

“How dare you trespass… on the sacred ground where our precious seedlings grow!”

“Filthy creatures! How dare you set foot here!”

The chieftain’s legs trembled as he turned his gaze upward.

The towering trees—so tall they dwarfed even the tallest orc by tenfold—were moving.

Their roots writhed like massive serpents, and the ground shook violently as they pulled themselves up.

“Leave this golden land at once!”

Finally, the chieftain realized who these beings were.

“Ents…?! Why are Ents here?!”

His voice was almost a scream.

A massive shadow fell over him and his troops, blotting out the sunlight.

In that heavy darkness came a crushing sense of despair.

Then the colossal tree-creatures roared in unison:

“Begone, all of you!”

Branches like giant whips lashed out in a storm, striking down the orc invaders like insects.

* * *

“Report from the border!”

Inside Ludwig’s Demon Lord Castle, Ulken spoke at the retainers’ meeting.

For once, the werewolf general had good news to share.

“The orcs trespassed into the Ents’ territory.”

Ariella and the Ents had reached an agreement easily.

Following their deal, roughly half of the mature Ents from the Fairy Forest had relocated to Ludwig’s territory.

Ariella had one request: that the Ents spread their roots along the long strip of land encircling the Demon Lord’s domain like a living wall.

The Ents had agreed, since the area was within what they called “the Golden Land’s blessing.”

Once they arrived, the Ents planted their precious seeds immediately, and to their joy, sprouts appeared faster than anyone expected.

The adult Ents surrounded each sapling, settling their massive roots nearby.

They carefully guided the flow of nutrients and magic from the land into their newborn seedlings.

And that was when the orcs decided to invade.

“So, what happened to them?” Ariella asked.

Ulken grinned, sharp teeth glinting between his lips.

“They were completely crushed. Beaten to a pulp and driven out. Hardly any of them walked away alive.”

Everyone in the room nodded in satisfaction.

“Of course they reacted violently,” Richmond said with a smirk. “Those are their first seedlings in centuries.”

“Ha! With the Ents guarding the border, the orcs won’t dare try another invasion,” Ulken added.

The newly grown forest had become a natural fortress.

And even better, that defense would only grow stronger over time.

“As the saplings mature, they’ll join the fight too,” Richmond mused.

It was a win-win deal: the Ents finally had a chance to expand their population, while Ludwig’s territory gained an impenetrable defense and a steady supply of rare herbs.

But there was still one mystery.

“So, why did the soil at the border suddenly become so fertile?” someone asked.

“Yeah,” another chimed in. “Nothing used to grow there, and now there’s grass everywhere. The Ents even called it ‘Blessed Golden Land.’”

“I’d like to know that myself,” Richmond muttered. “There’s no World Tree here, so how did they grow anything?”

Ariella sighed. She already knew the answer.

She had spent days poring over books, piecing together the puzzle.

And now, with all the facts in place, the truth was obvious.

“The reason that land changed…” she said calmly, “is poop.”

“…What?”

The room fell silent, everyone staring at her in stunned confusion.

“…Poop?”

“Did you say poop?”

“Surely I misheard…”

“P-Po…poop?”

Ludwig, Phily, Richmond, Ulken, and Geru all spoke at once.

Their voices overlapped in what almost sounded like a chorus—though the word itself made it anything but pleasant.

“Yes, poop,” Ariella confirmed.

She explained about the little dragon.

“You know how the hatchling flies north every morning?”

Everyone in the castle had noticed it, but few knew why.

The retainers, however, were well aware.

“He goes there to do his business,” Ulken said bluntly.

Raising a dragon had taught Ariella one thing: they were surprisingly clean creatures.

The hatchling refused to relieve himself anywhere near where people lived, preferring remote, empty places.

And since he could cover distances in minutes that would take a person days to walk, this was easy for him.

“Unfortunately, the spot he chose happens to be the northern edge of our territory,” Ariella continued.

It was within his territory but far enough from his nest that he felt comfortable.

Ulken’s troops, stationed along the border, had been the first to notice this habit.

“And so, thanks to the hatchling’s… daily contribution…” Richmond interlaced his skeletal fingers, intrigued.

“The land itself was transformed?”

“Exactly,” Ariella nodded.

The Ents hadn’t been exaggerating. There was a reason they called it “Blessed Golden Land.”

“The Southern Merchant Guild once obtained a dragon scale, but even they didn’t recognize it for what it was. Why? Because dragons almost never shed scales. No one has ever seen one.”

Dragons treasured every part of their body and rarely shed even a single scale.

Even scholars couldn’t identify it because they had no sample for comparison.

“Dragons are living magic crystals,” Ariella explained. “They don’t need sunlight or even the World Tree’s magic to survive. That’s why dragons don’t bow to Demon Lords and don’t need lairs near World Trees.”

Richmond tilted his head. “So their bodies are so perfect that even their droppings are filled with magic?”

Ariella flipped open an ancient book she had found in the library.

It depicted a Gold Dragon with golden light pooling beneath it.

“There’s a line here,” Ariella said, reading aloud. “‘The Gold Dragon, symbol of abundance, shall bless the land it touches with unending fertility.’”

“Bless…?”

The Ents had used the same word.

“In the picture, see that golden puddle beneath the dragon?” Ariella pointed.

At first, she had thought it was a golden egg.

But she had been wrong.

“It wasn’t an egg. It was poop. To a dragon, it’s just waste magic. But to everyone else, it’s an incredible source of power. And for Gold Dragons, that effect is even stronger.”

That was why even a hatchling’s droppings carried such overwhelming magic.

“I see…”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

It was an incredible, almost unbelievable truth—yet somehow it made perfect sense.

Of course, it was also the kind of revelation no one wanted to mention during a meal.

Phily gave a wry smile.

“So that’s what it is… truly, the Dragon’s Blessing.”